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Are you thinking of downsizing to a smaller home? Not sure if it’s right for you? We’ll cover 6 benefits of downsizing your home to help you in your decision-making process. Downsize with confidence by knowing the benefits ahead of time.

Why Downsize to a Smaller Home?

Is downsizing something you’ve been considering for a while? Are the kids grown and out of the house and now it feels a little big?

We have downsized a couple of times. Large home to smaller home and smaller home to a sailboat. Why did we do this? We wanted to travel before our actual “retirement age” while we still could and not wait until our bodies got any older. Many people are choosing to travel and live in traveling homes like RV’s and sailboats.

Even if you aren’t quite ready to live in a couple of hundred square feet of space, downsizing to a smaller home has many benefits that can offer you freedom from the expenses of a large home.

The 6 Benefits of Downsizing Your Home

Downsizing to a smaller home can be overwhelming just thinking about it. You likely have a lot of memories and sentimental ties to your current home which makes the thought of leaving it hard. Emotional feelings aside, I’d like to share with you some benefits of downsizing to a smaller home.

1. Downsizing Can Help Reduce Your Debt Footprint

In most instances, moving from a large home to a small home can reduce your overall debt footprint. At least, that’s been our experience. The idea is that with a smaller home you have less of a mortgage payment which means you could pay off a home mortgage even faster. Of course, in certain situations, this might not be the case. If you are renting, finding a smaller place with less of a rent payment means you could save more money as well.

Housing costs are expensive. By spending less money on a mortgage or rent payment, you can also set yourself up for taking that extra savings and applying it to other debt you have. Wouldn’t it be great to actually make some headway on getting all your debt paid off? Think about how freeing that would feel!

If selling and/or buying a home is involved, you want to make sure the real estate market is a good time to sell, and if buying a new home, make sure the market is good for buyers. You want the benefits of buying and selling to put you ahead of the money game so spend some researching the housing market so you have an idea if the timing is right. A local real estate agent should be able to help you with the pros and cons of the current market.

2. Save Money on Utility Bills

Ideally, smaller living spaces should equal less money spent to heat and cool a place. Of course, other factors play into this like how well a place is insulted, etc. When we did our first downsize, we found a nice smaller energy-efficient home, less than half of our previous square footage. We saved hundreds of dollars each month just on our heating and cooling expenses alone.

Saving hundreds of dollars over a year’s time can really add up!

3. Sell Your Stuff and Make Some Money

You don’t have to downsize your house to declutter and get rid of your belongings. However, when you know you are going to be living in a much smaller space, you take it more seriously. In my opinion, garage sales are a pain but we have made some good money just by selling little low-priced items under $1 along with other stuff. People are typically looking for a deal at a garage sale so expect them to barter. That’s why higher-priced valuable items are a good candidate to sell online or maybe even on consignment somewhere.

I’m sure you have some unused items in your home that you no longer need. How great it would be to be free of all those unneeded things! You should do this one whether you decide to downsize or not. A few extra bucks in your pocket afterward isn’t bad either.

4. You Realize You Don’t “Need” As Much Stuff

When you start decluttering and getting rid of your unneeded belongings (hopefully making a few bucks along the way), you may start to wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. It really is a great feeling to open up more space in your home. It can make you feel empowered and organized. You’ll no longer be drowning in the weight of all that stuff.

You don’t realize have much stuff you have until you actually go through it with the mindset of living in a smaller space and having less room to put things. Otherwise, you just pack up your stuff and keep moving it with you where ever you go, like extra baggage. Maybe there’s even stuff still packed in a box in that corner of the garage that you never unpacked from your last move. Most likely, you don’t need anything in that box!

Once you live in a smaller space, you’ll find even more things that you don’t really need and you’ll likely free yourself of more clutter. You’ll buy fewer “things” and your need for “stuff” diminishes because your space is a lot smaller. Buying less also means spending less so there’s another way to save some money.

5. Downsizing Can Save You Time

Can it really though? I think so! Having a house less than half the size of our previous one meant that I had a lot less space to clean. Fewer bathrooms, smaller floor areas, and fewer places for knick-knacks to collect dust. You get the idea. Also, your outside chores could save you time as well. Less gutter space for leaf cleaning, etc.

You’ll have less space to maintain. Also, when you are doing renovations, you have less space to paint inside and out, less roof area and less floor area to cover, etc. This means you can get your projects done sooner! Having fewer materials to buy can also lead to cost savings.

6. Downsizing Can Help You Reach Your Goals

No matter what your goals are, downsizing can likely help you. Downsizing isn’t necessarily the one answer to help you reach your goals but it could be a big-ticket item to help you on your way. It certainly helped us reach our goal to live on our sailboat and travel.

Everyone has different goals in life but here are some reasons people might downsize:

• Simple living

• Reduce debt

• No debt

• Early retirement

• Tiny living

• Traveling

• Be close to family

• Freedom from “all the stuff”

• Less is more concept

• Less stuff, more memories

• Need less money, different employment options

Does it Make Sense to Downsize Your House?

In our experience, downsizing our living space and getting rid of things we didn’t need has been a freeing experience. Downsizing has also helped us reach our goals of saving money and reducing our debt. This led us to our ultimate goal of living on our sailboat and traveling. Not feeling stuck under the thumb of debt has really helped us choose a different way to live that feels free and simple.

Are You Ready to Downsize?

Getting rid of the extra stuff can be just as freeing as having smaller monthly bills and watching your savings account grow. Now that you’ve looked at the benefits of downsizing your home, are you ready to take the leap to smaller living and reap the benefits? If so, join the less is more movement and start planning your downsizing goals today.

I’d love to hear what your downsizing goals are. Leave a comment below.

Other Helpful Resources

• Prepare for Living in a Small Space: Declutter Now

• How Downsizing Changed My Life: Simple Living & Travel

• Downsize to a Traveling Home: Start Planning Now

• How to Start Living a Simple Life Today